Just Like Old Times
by Jujubee1981
Summary: Magnus, Tesla, the Cabal, and definite intrigue and fluff. Notice Rating Change. Chapter 7 has some 'M'-ish content.
1. Chapter 1

Helen Magnus woke with a lurch and a strangled gasp. She sat up and frantically looked around, finding herself in unfamiliar surroundings. She was on a rather large and comfortable bed in a vast studio suite filled with books and papers. A lazy fire burned in a hearth at the opposite end of the room.

"Relax, Helen." Came an all too familiar voice from somewhere in the shadowy recesses. Nikola Tesla rose from a wing-backed chair that sat in front of the fire. "You got a little bump on the head, but I managed to get us out. Safe and sound." He grinned at her cheerfully and cocked his head. "How many of me do you see?" He asked.

"Always too many." Helen replied dryly. "Where are we?"

"Still in Amsterdam. A little pied-à-terre I keep, mostly as an investment, but also for sentimental reasons." Nikola said lazily, he reached behind the chair in which he had been sitting and produced a tray of food and wine. "Hungry?"

Helen began to refuse, she was so used to saying 'no' to this man, but her stomach grumbled. "Please." She nodded. She began to scramble off the bed, but splinters of pain shot through her head when she moved. Nikola crossed the room and put the tray on the bed. He picked up a wine glass and poured a generous amount of red wine into it. He handed it to her. "Thank you." She said, taking a sip.

"Mm." He replied. He picked up his own, partially finished, glass and drank. Then he took a fork off the tray and speared an olive and a bit of cheese for himself. Helen reached over and plucked up some cheese with her fingers, silently amused that Nikola even ate finger food with a utensil, such was his fastidious nature and distaste for soiling his hands.

"Were we followed?" Helen asked as she ate.

Nikola scoffed. "If we were followed would we be sitting here having a picnic waiting for the Cabal to knock on the door?" He asked with a derisive twist of his mouth.

"Would you? Maybe." Helen replied mildly.

Nikola considered that for a moment. "We weren't followed but they _are_ looking for us." He said finally. He pointed his fork at another piece of cheese, inspected it briefly, and then put the fork down. "What I want to know is what you were doing at that rendezvous point in the first place."

Helen raised one eyebrow and replied. "I might ask you the same thing."

Nikola eyed her. "I asked first." He said with a smirk.

Helen sighed. "I had heard rumors that there was going to be a transfer of several very rare abnormals tonight. I went to see if I could discover what kind of creatures were being transported and to where. Now you."

Nikola shrugged. "Just keeping an eye on the local color." He said nonchalantly.

"The truth please." Helen ordered in a mild tone.

"Scout's honor." Nikola said innocently. She sighed and shook her head. Nikola relented. "I heard similar rumors. Possibly a sentient abnormal with EM abilities."

"Someone like you?" Helen breathed. "Held captive?"

Nikola held up his hands, without an answer. He took a sip of wine. "Probably just a ruse to get me there." He mused. "They were certainly prepared for me. They weren't, however, prepared for you, my dear." He toasted her with his wine glass.

"How did I hit my head?" Helen asked, she probed her head gingerly. Nikola set down his glass and approached her to examine her injury.

"You fight like a savage." He said in an intrigued and velvety tone as he gently brushed her hair away from the knot that was forming on the back of her head. "You slammed your head backward into the face of the man who grabbed you from behind. It was quite surprising for everyone. Even me. Surprising enough that we were able to run. Then you just collapsed in a heap." He stepped away from her and grinned. "You're heavier than you look."

Helen gave him an exasperated look. "How does the injury look?" She asked.

"You'll survive." Nikola said dismissively. "You're immortal, aren't you?"

Helen chuckled. "Something like that."

"Two aspirin and call me in the morning." He said, retrieving his wine and perching on the edge of the bed beside her. "So, the city is crawling with Cabal agents. What was your exit strategy?"

"Exit strategy? I was just doing reconnaissance. What was your exit strategy?" Helen said.

Nikola gestured around the room. "You're looking at it." He said. "I wasn't expecting trouble either."

"What a couple of geniuses." Helen said ironically. She pressed a hand to the back of her head and winced.

Nikola grinned. "So? Hole up here and wait out the storm?" He suggested. "What will we do all alone with all this wine and no chaperone?"

Helen rolled her eyes and ignored his sauce. "I need to get in touch with my people. Let them know I'm okay." She said.

"Be my guest." Nikola said, waving a hand toward a computer terminal in the corner.

"Thank you, Nikola." Helen said, rising slowly from the bed to avoid jostling herself. "And thank you for getting me out safely."

Nikola made a dismissive gesture. "Think nothing of it. It was a mutual act anyway." He said with uncharacteristic modesty. Helen narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. He looked back at her with a face as guileless as a saint's. She pointed at him.

"If you're up to something, I will find it out." She warned him sternly.

"My dear Helen, I don't know what you mean." Nikola said with a toothy grin. "More wine?"

"No, I think I'd better keep my wits about me, thank you." Helen said briskly and seated herself at the computer to send a brief message to Will Zimmerman that she was safe and would be in touch soon. The moment the email was sent the power shut off. "Nikola?" Helen said.

He was already standing, alert. He spread his hands and closed his eyes briefly. "It's the whole block, possibly the whole quarter." He said, opening his eyes again.

"New trick?" Helen said, impressed.

Nikola grinned smugly, then began rapidly collecting papers and packing them into a black leather briefcase. "Come on." He said, as if to a slow-witted child. "Get your things. Let's go."

"What...?" Helen stood up too quickly, causing a jab of pain and a wave of nausea.

Nikola stopped what he was doing and eyed her with a wary expression. "The restroom is in there." He said, pointing to his left and taking a careful step away from her.

"I'm fine." Helen said, breathing through her nose. "I just stood up too quickly. Why are you in a hurry to leave?"

"I'm a giant electromagnetic beacon. With the power off, the Cabal can find me with a simple electric field detector. I should know, I used to own the patent." He lost his temper momentarily and swept a small stack of books onto the floor. Then he put his hands on his hips and took a deep breath. "Well?" He said. "Are you going to stand there and wait for them to ring the doorbell? We need to get out of here."

Helen moved swiftly but carefully to the door and peeked out the peephole. Seeing nothing, she opened it soundlessly and scanned the corridors. "Clear." She whispered.

Nikola picked up the briefcase and retrieved Helen's satchel from beside the bed. He slung the satchel over his own head and carried both items out of the apartment and into the corridor. He beckoned Helen out with his free hand and quietly locked the door behind them. They silently moved toward the building's exit, but abruptly halted when they saw a small group of men clad in black standing watch outside. Nikola leaned in close to Helen's ear and whispered. "This way. There's a passage to the street from the basement."

She nodded and followed him.


	2. Chapter 2

Helen wasn't particularly surprised to discover that Nikola's basement street passage was, in fact, a window set about five feet from the ground. She turned to him with an annoyed expression and he shrugged. "It was a door thirty years ago." He said with an amused sparkle in his eyes. He put their bags on the floor, removed his jacket and placed it across the window, using it to muffle the sound of shattering glass when he put his fist through the pane. He shook off the jacket briskly, put it back on and held out a hand to Helen. "Leg up, my dear?" He said cheekily. He grinned at her as if he was having a fantastic time.

She gave him a long, hard look and, with his assistance, hoisted herself up through the window and shimmied out into a narrow alleyway. He handed up their things and then, with catlike smoothness, pulled himself up and through the window. He stood up, took a few deep breaths, and tidied his appearance, wiping his hands on a handkerchief he produced from some invisible pocket. He looked at Helen and, with a small frown, wiped a streak of dust off her cheek. She blinked at him in the dark, wondering how he even saw the dirt. "Which way?" She asked in a murmur.

Nikola straightened and looked down the alley in both directions. "Either way." He said. "We need to move." He gave her a businesslike little shove toward one end of the alley, picked up their belongings and walked briskly after her.

Several breathless minutes of ducking around corners and holding breaths followed. The moon was covered by clouds and, with the power to the neighborhood cut, the darkness was complete except for the occasional beam of a flashlight which would cause Helen and Nikola to freeze or flatten themselves against a wall. Two Cabal agents walked right past them, fiddling with a device between them.

"He's nearby." One muttered.

"Or it's another generator in someone's basement." The other replied drily as they passed within a few yards of where Helen and Nikola stood.

Nikola met Helen's eyes and nodded. They moved quickly across the street after the agents had passed, jogging quietly down several more pitch-black blocks before arriving in a lit street. Both blew out breaths of relief and slowed to a less noticeably hurried pace. Nikola examined Helen briefly in the light, grabbed her elbow and drew her along in his wake. "How's your head?" He asked in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Pounding." Helen admitted, allowing herself to be led. "Where are we going now?"

"That cafe." Nikola nodded to a small restaurant ahead of them. "To see if the power has been cut in any other parts of town."

Helen's mouth curved in understanding. "If we can go where they've already searched we have a chance of waiting them out till morning."

"Exactly." Nikola grinned, appearing almost excited by the chase. "We're so good at this together." He said cheerfully.

Helen shook her head in bemusement. They arrived at the cafe and settled at a table. Helen casually asked the waiter if the power had gone out in other sections of the city. He courteously replied that he didn't know and brought them the coffee and biscuits they ordered. Nikola fidgeted in his chair, his eyes darting around. "This section could be next, the power obviously hasn't been cut yet." He murmured in agitation.

"Sit still." Helen said firmly. She took a bracing swallow of coffee and broke a biscuit in half. "Let's think about this."

They sat without speaking, both deep in thought, enjoying the luxury that longstanding acquaintance allows for long moments of silence in conversations.

"The hotel." They both said in unison, looked surprised at one another and then both grinned widely.

Nikola dropped some bills on the table and drew Helen to her feet. He again took both pieces of luggage and they walked out to the sidewalk where Nikola hailed a cab by whistling shrilly.

"Have you no discretion?!" Helen hissed. A cab, parked at the curb, switched its light on.

Nikola scoffed. "The Cabal isn't driving cabs, dear." He said, holding the door open for her and gesturing for her to get in. "After you."

Helen entered the cab and the driver punched the gas. Nikola wasn't in and Helen couldn't get out. However, the driver hadn't factored in Nikola's magnetism. Nikola simply _stuck_ to the cab, shouting to Helen, "I was wrong." and reaching for her. The driver, a man in all black, twisted in his seat, aiming a gun. Helen swatted the barrel aside and took advantage of the driver's inattention to the road to grab Nikola's hand and trust him to catch her as they tumbled from the moving cab. They rolled and came to rest in a panting heap. Helen's head spun giddily and she lost consciousness again. The cab braked with a screech and the driver exited the vehicle, holding his weapon. In a moment, he stood over them.

"Oh, for heaven's sake." Nikola said testily, glaring up the barrel at the Cabal agent. "She's unconscious again. You know she's only worth something alive right?"

The man looked wary. "We were informed that Doctor Magnus couldn't be killed." He said.

"You were misinformed." Tesla snapped. "She's no use to us damaged."

The agent blinked, his arms lowered slightly. He gave Tesla a suspicious look.

"You people really do run a tight ship don't you?" Tesla said in disgust. "What have they told you about me?"

The agent blinked again. "They said we should bring you in. They didn't say you were working with us or that you could...stick to things."

"Well, I can." Tesla bit off the words. He stood unsteadily and brushed at his suit. "Look at this!" He gestured at the filthy wool. "_Saint Laurent!_" He sighed angrily and pointed at the weapon. "Put that thing away."

The man hesitated. Tesla glowered. The man holstered the weapon.

"Better." Tesla said grudgingly. He nudged Helen's motionless form with his toe. "Help me get her into the cab. Where have they set up the base of operations?" At his feet, Helen tried to steady her breathing, unable to grasp what she had just overheard.

"The Pulitzer Hotel." The agent replied, reaching down to lift Helen.

"Really?" Nikola clicked his tongue. "If you would've just driven the cab instead of that gun nonsense we could've spared ourselves all this trouble. That was where I was taking her."

The agent lifted Helen up and walked to the cab to put her inside the backseat. Nikola picked up their bags and followed, rubbing his hands with his handkerchief and smirking.


	3. Chapter 3

The Cabal agent loaded Helen's still form into the backseat of the cab with surprising gentleness. Because he felt it was polite, Nikola tried to be equally gentle when he delivered a 200 milliamp charge of direct current to the agent's torso. The agent dropped his cell phone, which he had just finished using to notify his superiors that he had both Helen Magnus and Nikola Tesla in custody and was bringing them in, and crumpled in an unconscious heap at Nikola's feet. Nikola stepped on the agent's cell phone, crushing it. Helen sat up immediately and Nikola started in surprise then grinned at her hugely.

"Playing possum, my dear?" He asked. "Come on then, let's go." He reached for her and she drew back with a suspicious look. He sighed. "Always expecting the worst from me, Helen?" He asked, not disguising the slight hurt tone in his voice.

"I know you're up to something. Are you working with them? This agent tried to take me and we both know they were looking for you." Helen said, her face weary and disappointed.

"Everything's so black and white with you." Nikola said.

"So you're somewhere in the gray?" Helen asked sadly.

"We need to get out of here. Come with me or don't, it's your choice." Nikola said, his expression shuttered with all trace of his usual playfulness gone from his countenance.

"Can I trust you?" Helen asked simply.

Nikola hesitated and replied. "Have you ever known me to act in a manner that doesn't serve my best interest?"

"Is your best interest in _my _best interest?" She asked.

"Yes. This time." Nikola said firmly. "This thing affects us both and it affects your precious Sanctuary. _Trust me_." He held out his hand.

She took it and he pulled her from the cab, keeping her hand in his, and started briskly down the street towing her in his wake. "You'll tell me everything." She said. It wasn't a question.

"When we're out of Amsterdam." Nikola confirmed, moving swiftly and taking an abrupt right. "We don't have the luxury of time. That agent may have already woken up and found a way to contact Cabal headquarters."

"Where are you taking us?"

"Schiphol." Nikola replied, naming the Amsterdam airport. "We have a window of time to get out before they learn we're not actually in their custody."

"Are we walking to Schiphol?" Helen asked breathlessly, her head injury making if difficult to keep up with Nikola's usual swift pace of moving.

"There's a hotel two blocks up with car service to the airport." Nikola replied.

"I can call the Sanctuary and make travel arrangements for us back to the Old City." Helen said.

"We're not going to the Sanctuary." Nikola said.

"What?" Helen dug in her heels, drawing them to a halt. "Nikola, I'm trying to trust you but you need to meet me halfway."

A muscle jumped in his jaw. "Helen, I _will_ explain when we're safely out of the city." He said. He resumed walking, dragging her along. "I have a connection at the morgue in the airport."

"Of course you do." Helen said sourly, put out by his obstinate secrecy.

"He can help us get through the airport discreetly." Nikola continued, temper starting to rise in his voice.

"I look forward to seeing you act with some discretion." Helen replied, her own temper flaring.

"Pull back your claws, Helen." Nikola snapped, abruptly stopping and turning a terrifyingly intense expression toward her. "I've had enough for tonight."

Helen's eyes widened. She was suddenly uncertain of him. He looked harassed, angry…afraid? Nikola had never lost his temper with her before, no matter how they sniped and quarreled. He let go of her hand and turned on his heel, walking ahead of her with stiff shoulders. She blinked and jogged to catch up, taking hold of his hand again. "Niko…" She began. Nikola made a frustrated sound that cut her off and tightened his grip on her hand, helping her keep up again.

They arrived at the hotel and Nikola gently pushed her into a lobby chair and dropped their luggage at her feet. "Wait." He said shortly, and glided to the concierge to make arrangements for transportation.

Helen sat, catching her breath and rubbing her throbbing head, trying to work through her muddle of feelings. She felt guilty for needling Nikola, but suspicious of his intentions or the genuineness of his feelings. When he returned, he was back to his usual flippant self. "The car is coming around." He picked up their bags and assisted her to her feet. A black hotel limousine pulled up to the curb and they entered.

"Nikola," Helen said, "I feel I owe you an apology."

He waved a dismissive hand. "Save your apology until you know everything, Helen, you'll likely want it back. I feel you'll disapprove of my methods."

"I always disapprove, don't I?" She said as if just realizing it for the first time.

"Well, not _always_." Nikola said, his eyes twinkling. "Perhaps once or twice over the course of the last hundred years I've done something right, would you say?"

"Once or twice." Helen allowed, now smiling tentatively, certain their quarrel was resolved.

"I'm going to make contact with my connection at the airport. I suggest you take time to update the asylum." Nikola said.

Both opened cell phones and made calls. Nikola's call was brief. Helen's lasted longer. Will insisted on calling Henry, Kate, and Bigfoot into his office and putting her on speakerphone.

"How can you trust him, Magnus?" Henry asked.

"I agree, Helen, I think you should return to the Sanctuary and we'll deal with whatever is going on." Will said.

"I'll have more information soon." Helen replied, sidestepping their concerns. Nikola was listening to her side of the conversation openly. He had leaned in and pressed his ear against the other side of her phone.

"This is crazy." Kate snapped.

"I'll be fine." Helen said. "I'll be in contact."

"Oh, Helen, be sure and say hello to the children. Tell them I'll have mommy home soon and they should mind the babysitter till then." Nikola said loudly, his chin nearly resting on her shoulder now.

Helen chuckled soundlessly and spoke into the phone. "Did you get that?" She asked.

Bigfoot grumbled.

"Asshole." Kate replied.

Helen turned to Nikola, who was grinning, and said. "They say hello back." She spoke into the phone now. "Keep track of my movements with my phone signal. I'll check in as soon as we're settled and I have more information." She closed the call.

"All well?" Nikola asked brightly, grinning. He leaned back against the seat.

"You are infuriating." Helen said with no real heat and an affectionate smile. Nikola's grin widened and his eyes gleamed, sweeping over her.

"You look like hell." He said with a smirk and a smolder in his eyes that belied the insult.

Helen looked down at her appearance and met his gaze with a small smile. "It does seem like a good time to freshen up." She opened her bag and made what repairs she could. Glancing over at him, she wondered how he'd somehow managed to tidy his appearance to the point that no one would guess he had dived into the street from moving taxi. There was a small smudge of dirt on one crisp white shirt cuff – that was all. "How did you get so clean?" She asked before she could stop herself.

"Static." Nikola replied smugly.

"You have a smudge." She pointed at his cuff. He frowned at it and fussed for a moment, doing something with his hand over the area. The smudge was gone. He lifted his eyebrows at her and held up both hands, wiggling his fingers slightly.

"At your service." He said with an innocent face.

Helen rolled her eyes so hard they almost took her head with them. "You're offering to _rub me down_?" She asked slowly in a dry tone.

Nikola's eyes gleamed but his expression remained saintly. "I just generate static to lift the particles. We wouldn't want you to draw attention." His eyes drifted down her body.

"I'll take my chances." Helen said, smothering a smile.

"The offer remains open." Nikola said with a wolfish grin.

"Schiphol." The driver announced through the intercom.


	4. Chapter 4

Nikola's contact at the morgue was an average, friendly Dutch man named Jakob who initially looked as if he might try to hug the aloof scientist before beginning an almost bizarrely normal conversation about work. Nikola, uncharacteristically, showed interest and affection for the man, even going so far as to inquire after his family.

"They're doing well, the girls just started school. We're expecting our third in two months. A boy this time." Jakob said cheerfully, showing his security card at the morgue entrance to the airport as they ducked down in the backseat of his car.

"Congratulations." Nikola said, his voice muffled against the seat where he had flattened himself. "Give Dana and the girls my regards."

They arrived at the doors and Jakob entered a code and swiped his security pass card. He disappeared inside and returns minutes later to usher them in.

"The security system will be down for about fifteen minutes. They'll halt flights during that window." Jakob said. "Good luck with whatever you're doing, sir."

"Thank you." Nikola replied with a smile and a nod.

"Anything for you, sir." Jakob replied seriously. "You know that."

Nikola shifted uncomfortably, but nodded and took Helen's arm. "Shall we?" He said to her. "Time's running out."

Jakob gave a small wave and hurried out of the building. Nikola began moving again and Helen followed.

"How do you know that man?" Helen asked, a little baffled by the exchange.

"I delivered his twins five years ago. He and his wife were on vacation in Germany, she went into labor six weeks early, the twins were breach…" Nikola shrugged, obviously ill-at-ease with the role of hero.

"How did you…? You aren't a medical doctor. They could have died." Helen said, trying to wrap her head around Nikola involving himself voluntarily in the messy business of childbirth. She looked at Nikola as if seeing him for the first time. Certainly, she hadn't seen Nikola this sincere since Oxford, but the brilliant and earnest young man she knew at Oxford wasn't quite so…capable? Manly? Genuine?

"They didn't die. Babies are born all the time. It's not a hard trick." Nikola said dismissively. "Keep up, Helen, twelve minutes."

Ten minutes later they were taxiing the tarmac in a small private aircraft. By the time the airport came back to life, they were aloft and Nikola was relaxed, grinning like a maniac and back to something like his insufferable, insincere self. Helen already missed the Nikola she had seen tonight. The Nikola who took control, lost his temper, dragged her down streets, and could arrange secret transport out of dangerous situations. The Nikola who was modest about saving a man's family.

"You're staring at me." Nikola accused, his grin shrinking. He frowned. He couldn't read the expression on Helen's face, which discomfited him, since he had long ago memorized her every look and movement. Quite simply, he had never seen this look on her face before. "What?"

Helen blinked and shook her head. "You were going to explain everything." She reminded him.

He winced. "So I was." He said in resignation. "You won't like it." He warned, pointing a finger at her.

"I'm sure I won't." Helen replied with a small smile. "Tell me anyway and I'll promise to hear you out."

"I may as well tell you the whole truth, since your memory is bound to clear up once you get some rest from that knock on the head." Nikola said. "I had heard the Cabal was holding an abnormal with capabilities similar to mine and I was at the rendezvous point to check that out. It was a trick to get hold of me and I fell for it. Evidently, they think I'm an easier target without teeth and claws and they were keen on having a giant electromagnetic generator."

"They were going to use you. You could be very destructive in the wrong hands." Helen murmured. Nikola paused and she looked up to find him smirking. "Yes?" She said.

"But I can be _very good_ in the right hands." He said silkily, a mischievous and deeply interested gleam in his eyes.

Helen gave him a Mona Lisa smile. "Cheeky." She said softly.

"Mm." Agreed Nikola, sliding a glance over her and leaning toward her slightly. Helen blinked, feeling her heartbeat speed up. She cleared her throat.

"Go on." She said, trying to steady her breathing.

Nikola steepled his fingers and examined them. "They had me when I spotted you sneaking around." His eyes shifted. "I convinced them that I was delivering you to them and you'd gotten loose. Not that different of a story I gave our friend in the cab. I…gave you away in exchange for myself."

Helen hissed out a breath. Nikola held up a hand. "Hear me out." He said firmly. She would've argued, but his tone was so smoothly commanding that it surprised her into silence. "I know you're a bigger prize than I am and the distraction proved useful. You fought back, took the lump, and ran. I went after you. I told them I'd retrieve you. When they realized we weren't returning, they began tracking my energy."

"Well, it's a whitish shade of gray." Helen sighed. "How did you know they'd believe you?"

"I didn't." Nikola said simply.

"So you put me at risk."

"Helen, it was a collection of nameless agents. We would've escaped eventually if things had gone differently. The Cabal only recruits agents who are as intelligent as bags of hair." Nikola said.

Helen shook her head. "No. No excuses." She said. "You did what you did. You endangered me to save yourself and, as usual, I don't approve. But it worked…so I'm giving you a pass. You've endangered yourself to help me before, even in the last hour."

Nikola looked surprised. "That bump on the head did you some good." He decided.

"Now the rest. Where are we going? What's going on that we can't go to the Sanctuary?" Helen asked.

"In response to the first question: London." Nikola replied. "In response to the second, I need you to perform a minor surgery for me. The Cabal managed to implant me with something that's disrupting my abilities during the initial struggle." He bent his head to the side and showed her a small wound behind his right ear. "It seems to have a detrimental effect on electromagnetic waves. Your EM shield wouldn't have withstood it; I'm barely able to summon a charge right now. It's wreaking havoc on my self-control too. I'm only guessing, but I think it was simply a first step in turning me into their own private generator that can be switched on and off."

"It makes sense." Helen admitted. Especially, she privately thought, his statement about his loss of self-control. He had been unlike his usual carefully constructed façade since she woke up in his apartment and it was slowly growing more noticeable.

"You see?" Nikola said triumphantly. He grinned. "I must say, you're taking this rather well."

"I've been reckoning with myself a bit." Helen said honestly. "I'm a trifle hard on you, Niko, even though you _do_ deserve it."

Nikola again looked slightly surprised, unable to maintain his usual insouciance. He shifted and cleared his throat. "You're staring again, Helen." His voice involuntarily velvety and deep. For a long moment, their eyes simply locked and time suspended.

"I'm seeing a whole new you today." She whispered, trying to sound light. Her eyes were wide and aware. "You really lost your cool back there."

Nikola's eyes took in her expression and darkened. "Judging by your behavior, I'd say you like it." He murmured, leaning in with a smile. "Maybe I'll keep the Cabal implant…"

"Don't be ridicul…" Helen's breathless reply was cut off for the soft brush of his lips. Barely any pressure, a hint of warmth and wine, before he withdrew. She let out a soft breath and opened her eyes. He was gazing at her intently. "Niko, I…" She began and was cut off again. This time his lips were firmer, coaxing. Her mouth softened under his and she returned his kiss. He retreated again slightly and, when she opened her eyes, he was smiling crookedly down at her. He reached up hesitantly and brushed a fall of her dark hair behind her ear. His eyes were unguarded, affectionate.

"If I'd known losing my self-control would have this effect on you I would've done so a long time ago." He murmured, tilting his head and taking her mouth with a whole new aggression and passion. She moaned in her throat, her mind blanking into nothing but heat and Nikola. Time passed and he drew back, pressing one last fervent kiss to her lips. His voice was rough when he said. "I'm going to forget myself in a moment." His hands still held her face, his thumbs stroking her cheekbones, as he looked into her flushed and dazed face with a small self-satisfied smile on his face.

Helen blinked and cleared her throat. "My God." She said.

"You can call me Nikola." Nikola said with a teasing grin. "And that's just a _kiss_. Imagine the rest."

Helen gave an exasperated laugh, recovering herself and shaking her head in amusement. "I really don't know what to say to that."

"Good. Mute women are my favorite kind." Nikola said, still in a teasing tone. "I enjoy rendering you speechless." He bent toward her.

Helen leaned back from him, gaining some distance and perspective. "You're right, that implant is doing something to your personality."

"It's taking down my filters so they can brainwash me. I'm not complaining at the moment." Nikola said mildly. "But I don't care for the circuit problems I'm having. We'll be in London in an hour and we can sort this out."

"Why London?"

"I have a contact in the Royal London Hospital who can get us an operating suite."

"You have a lot of contacts." Helen said in a bemused tone.

Nikola gave her an amused glance. "Of course. Networking is essential in any line of work." He joked mildly.

A burst of laughter escaped from Helen. She looked surprised at herself. "You're acting like…a guy." She said.

"I_ am _a_ guy_." Nikola said, with a miffed frown. He bent and kissed her thoroughly. "Hold that thought and I'll prove it later." He smiled at her, his eyes gleaming.

Helen blinked, speechless again.


	5. Chapter 5

Helen Magnus and Nikola Tesla stepped out of the plane at the small private airfield adjoining London's Heathrow airport. "We've got to assume that implant has some type of signal the Cabal can follow." Helen was telling Nikola.

"I agree, although I doubt it, or they would've simply picked us up in Amsterdam." Nikola replied, walking confidently beside her, his eyes scanning the surrounding area.

"Still." Helen said.

"Yes, better safe than sorry." Nikola agreed again. "Let's get to the hospital and get it out of my head. I can feel a progressive effect and it's getting exponential."

"I've noticed it too." Helen nodded. They reached the entrance to the tube station and bought tickets. "It's peeling you away like an onion."

"What a revolting simile." Nikola said with an amused expression. They went through the turnstiles and arrived at the platform just as the train arrived. Nikola ushered Helen into the train car and she sat in an open seat. He remained standing, alert, with their bags. "But not inaccurate." He finished his thought. "I feel more and more subject to my impulses and more and more open to suggestion."

"You seem to be behaving very firm and decisive." Helen observed.

"I'm compensating." Nikola admitted.

Helen laughed. "How fascinating." She said with a mischievous expression. "So you might start obeying whatever I say?"

Nikola gave her a gleaming look. "I can be very obedient in the right circumstances." He informed her in a tone and brushed down her spine, making her shiver. She blushed. He continued in a tense tone. His speech rushed as if he knew he had very little time left. "Helen, listen to me. I don't think I've got much longer before you're going to have to drag me along behind you. I only hope removing the implant will reverse the effects. I don't fancy having the personality and self-control of a golden retriever."

"I like golden retrievers." Helen said with a small smile, trying to lighten his humor.

"You would." He said, rolling his eyes in a way that resembled his usual personality, but falling just short in a way that frightened Helen.

"I suppose you prefer cats?" Helen grinned.

Nikola shrugged. "I like birds." He offered.

Then in the space of an instant, his expression changed and he looked down at her, smiling warmly. "You're such a pretty little thing." He said.

Helen's stomach twisted. Certainly, the friendly, pleasing Tesla was easier to deal with, but the change she just observed chilled her. She suddenly wanted nothing more than to restore Nikola to his terrible old self. _I want _my_ Nikola back_, she thought as she looked up at him. His eyes were…blank. Smiling but empty. "Focus." She said to him sharply.

He blinked and looked hurt.

"We're almost to our stop. What's the name of your contact? Are they prepared for us?" Helen said briskly, taking charge of the situation. "We need to operate immediately."

Nikola blinked again, as if clearing his head, and frowned. "I..." He began, and then looked panicked. "Helen, you have to help me." He said urgently.

"I'm going to help you. Come with me." Helen promised in a soothing tone, she stood and took his hand. The train doors opened and she pulled him with her into Whitechapel. They headed for the hospital. "Who is your contact, how we were supposed to contact him?"

Nikola obediently followed her. "Her." He replied. "She…her name is Doctor Riva Abajian. She's inside."

"Okay, good. You're doing well." Helen said, realizing with despair that she used the same tone when praising small children and pets. Golden retriever, indeed.

She pulled Nikola behind her into the hospital entrance and approached the front desk. "Helen Magnus and Nikola Tesla for Doctor Abajian." She said to the nurse.

The nurse nodded. "Doctor Abajian said to expect you." She picked up the phone and beeped the Doctor.

Within moments a trim and businesslike thirty-something Armenian woman in blue surgical scrubs came through a doorway and quickly assessed the situation. "Doctor Magnus?" She said. Helen nodded. "I'm Riva Abajian. This way. I'm ready for you."

"Thank you." Helen followed Doctor Abajian through a small maze of corridors and into a small operating room.

"Well, he _is_ looking done in. He said he might be pretty bad off by the time you arrived." Doctor Abajian said, briskly taking the bags from Nikola as he stood quietly, looking around with a blank expression.

"We need to operate immediately." Helen said. She was already making necessary preparations for surgery. "Nikola, I'm going to need to remove your jacket and shirt." She said.

For a brief moment, the old Nikola was back, his eyes gleaming. "Do your worst, Doctor." He invited in a purring tone. Helen rolled her eyes, feeling vast relief at the small glimpse of the real Nikola Tesla inside the shell. She tugged his jacket off, and tossed it in a corner. Nikola's eyes followed the movement of the garment and he frowned as if he didn't know why it bothered him. She unbuttoned his waistcoat and shirt, pulling them off briskly. She bustled him onto the gurney and injected the site behind his ear with a local anesthetic that Doctor Abajian handed her.

She quickly prepared herself as the anesthetic began to work, putting on a smock and scrubbing as best she could. Doctor Abajian examined the site and said. "It's close to the surface." She said confidently. "Ready?"

"Ready." Helen replied. "And thank you."

"Anything for Nikola." Doctor Abajian replied simply.

Helen puzzled over this, but focused on the task at hand. A quick incision revealed a tiny thing, about the size of a grain of rice, with miniscule wires fanning out like the legs of a spider. Helen gently prodded, examining the device. "The filaments are deep. We'll need to be careful in extracting them; they may extend into his brain."

Nikola lay quietly; the only indication that he was conscious was that his eyes were mildly scanning the room. "What's going on?" He said suddenly in confusion, he began to turn his head and Helen grabbed his face between her hands to hold him still. She looked him in the eyes.

"Nikola, listen to me. You must hold very still for me." She said. "Do you understand?"

Nikola wrinkled his nose and curled his lip. "Of course I understand." He said in an annoyed tone.

Helen blew out a breath of relief, trying to keep up with his flickers of reality. "Good." She said. "Hold very still, I'm afraid the device is quite deeply imbedded."

Doctor Abajian was examining the device. "Perhaps removing the body of the device would render the…tendrils useless." She suggested.

"We've got to try." Helen replied. She looked back at Nikola. "Hold still." She told him.

He gave her a gleaming smile. "Give me a kiss just in case you're a worse surgeon than I gave you credit for." He demanded. Helen hesitated, her eyebrows drawing together. She glanced at Doctor Abajian, who was openly watching this exchange. Helen smiled and pressed a firm kiss to his lips.

"I'm a phenomenal surgeon." She said against his mouth.

"Prove it." He said with a ghost of his usual smirk. With those words, his face blanked again.

"Hold still." Helen said again. His only response was a blink.

Helen and Doctor Abajian now worked to neatly clip the small device from the wires. A few tense seconds later, Helen dropped the device into a metal bowl with a ping. Nikola's face remained blank.

"Now the wires." She said to Doctor Abajian. "We need to see how deep they go."

Doctor Abajian nodded. "We've imaging equipment in here."

The two women worked together and determined that most of the wires appeared to be simply anchors. A single wire was snaking into Nikola's skull. The anchoring wires slid free slowly but without much trouble but both doctors were concerned about removing the final filament while Nikola was still conscious.

"We should put him under." Doctor Abajian said.

"I agree." Helen said. "IV's?"

"Over there." Doctor Abajian said, nodding to a supply station. Nikola's eyes followed Helen as she hooked him to an IV and monitors but he held still. Moments later, he was under general anesthesia.

"Will you do the honors?" Helen said to Doctor Abajian, indicating monitoring the anesthesia.

"Are you sure you want to perform the surgery?" Doctor Abajian said carefully. "It could damage him, even kill him."

"I know." Helen said.

"You're in love him." Doctor Abajian said. "You might not…"

"_In love with him_?" Helen laughed breathlessly.

"That smart, arrogant thing he does is bloody sexy and we both know it." Doctor Abajian said with a smirk. "But it's also irritating as hell. I might want to shag him, but you actually put up with him. You're in love with him." Her eyebrows drew together and she added reassuringly. "If it helps, he's in love with you too. Your name comes up every third sentence when he gets chatting."

Helen's cheeks flushed and she let out a stunned breath. "I…I don't know…" She fumbled for a reply.

Doctor Abajian cut her off. "_I'll _perform the surgery. If I kill him, you can hate me instead of yourself."

Helen mutely shook her head and took a deep breath. "No. I'll do it." She said. "He wanted me to do it."

"As you like." Doctor Abajian said and the two women began to work.


	6. Chapter 6

The filament was removed after two hours of delicate work but Nikola didn't wake immediately from the anesthesia. While they waited, Riva Abajian briefly examined Helen's head and declared her without serious injury. Afterward, Helen anxiously watched over Nikola and Riva watched over both of them, bringing Helen a cup of tea and sitting with her.

"Thank you." Helen said with a quick smile.

"My pleasure." Riva replied with a friendly smile. "So, tell me if I get too nosy. I've always wanted to meet Nikola's Helen and I'm probably going to pry."

Helen gave an abrupt laugh and then asked. "How do you know him?"

"I fell off a tube platform eight years ago. Landed perfectly between the live lines. Nikola hopped down, strolled over smooth as glass and helped me out. By the time we got up the platform again he was…well, a vampire. Evidently, he'd been channeling all the currents away from me and into his own body. So, like a nit, I fainted. He dragged me home, put me on the sofa, made me a cup of tea, and fixed my television." Doctor Abajian laughed. "By the time I was back to my senses I didn't care _what_ he was - I was in love with him. Ten minutes later, I fell back out of love. He really is an exasperating bastard. Has he improved any since he devamped himself?"

"Mm. Not really." Helen said. Her eyes were shining and a smile was twitching on her lips. "I have a hard time imagining Nikola acting so altruistic."

"Well, I'm sure it's just that he acts out so much around you." Riva smiled. "He does desperately want to impress you."

Helen laughed softly. "Imagine Nikola Tesla worried that he isn't impressive enough." She murmured to herself. She looked at his still form on the gurney.

"So how long have you and Nikola…?" Riva said, prying shamelessly.

"We aren't. We…don't. But we've been friends a very long time." Helen said.

"I know." Riva said. "A _very_ long time. And you're mad for each other, but don't do anything about it." She chuckled. "Don't worry. All your secrets are safe with me."

"I can't believe we've told you so much." Helen marveled.

Riva shrugged. "I'm a good listener." She nodded toward Nikola. "He pops in like a bad habit every year or so and mooches wine for a week. Talks my ears off. My working theory is that he just likes to collect lady doctors."

Nikola's voice, sounding rusty, came from the gurney. "You're my second prize, Riva. I'm just keeping you on the line in case Helen doesn't come around." Both women looked at him. He turned his head and gave them a Cheshire grin.

"Awful man. Should've let you die on the table. Do a service and rid the world of you." Riva said with amusement as both women stood and went to his side. Helen began examining him.

"Then who'd fix your switches?" Nikola asked cheekily.

"I'd hire an electrician and get less lip." Riva returned with an affectionate smile. "It seems you're back to your bad old self, Nikola."

"Very good to be back, Miss Abajian." He replied smugly. "How am I?" He asked Helen.

"Back to factory settings physically." She said, placing a hand on his chest. "How do you feel?"

"Good. Normal, I think." Nikola took stock of himself. "Do you have the device?"

"Yes." Helen picked up the small metal bowl containing the tiny object and the filaments. Nikola sat up with a groan and peered into the bowl warily, holding his palm briefly over it.

"It's deactivated." He said. "No energy source. It was probably using me as an energy source."

"Likely." Helen agreed. "I suppose we can bring it with us to the London Sanctuary and dismantle it as long as it doesn't come into contact with you?"

"I assume." Nikola said. "Tricky, since I'm the best man for the job of figuring out what it is and what it does."

"So humble." Helen rolled her eyes. Nikola grinned at her and then looked around himself.

"Where are my clothes?" He said. He blinked, remembering. "You threw them on the floor!" He recalled with some slight outrage in his voice.

"I was in a rush." Helen said coolly, lowering her eyes. She glanced through her lashes at his torso. Pale, slimly muscled, and not an ounce of fat on him. Her face heated and she mentally shook herself.

"Here." Riva handed him his shirt, jacket, and waistcoat. She openly looked him over with a gleam of appreciation in her eyes. "Shame you're such a pill." She told him.

Nikola sniffed at her dismissively, then gave her a cocky grin and dressed himself.

"The drugs will make you a little wobbly at first. It should wear off in an hour." Riva told him. "I've called you a taxi – under my name – to take you where you need to go."

Nikola put a hand on Helen's shoulder and leaned on her as he lowered himself on rubbery legs to the floor. She ducked under his arm and wrapped an arm around his waist. "I've got you." She said.

"Doctor Abajian, it's always a pleasure to see you." Nikola said with a nod. Riva smiled and nodded in return.

"Mister Tesla, it's always _interesting_ to see you." She said. "I'll show you out."

Helen, helping Nikola, followed her out of the hospital where a car service was waiting for them. They said their goodbyes to Riva and went to the car. Twice shy, Helen took a long look at the driver before getting in.

The car pulled away from the hospital and sped toward the London Sanctuary. "Declan is expecting us." Helen told Nikola, breaking the short silence that fell between them in the car.

Nikola slid a glance at her out of the corner of his eye and didn't reply. Helen sighed. "Is this going to be awkward?" She asked.

Nikola cleared his throat and shrugged nonchalantly. "That depends on if you can control your baser impulses around me, Helen." He said flippantly.

She gave him a long, exasperated look. "If _I_ can?" She said. "Really?"

Nikola gave her a wide-eyed look of innocence. "Well, only one of us was under the influence of a mind-altering device during that little _encounter_ on the flight."

Helen rolled her eyes at him. "Please, Nikola, you've been teasing me for over a century about liking me. Don't pretend you didn't want to kiss me."

"Who's pretending?" Nikola smirked. "I've just always had the capacity to resist."

"As have I, you might have noticed." Helen said coolly. "You surprised me before."

Nikola gave her a considering look and a gleam came into his eyes. "So had you been adequately prepared, you wouldn't have kissed me back?" He said with a growing grin.

Helen was flustered and could only shoot him a dark look in reply. She knew exactly where this was going.

"Let's test the theory, shall we?" He leaned toward her and she stiffened with a huff of breath. "Coward." He whispered in a velvety tone. Annoyance flared in her eyes, she knew when she was being baited. She narrowed her eyes and leaned in, meeting his lips in a hard kiss. When she would've immediately pulled away, his hand shot up to the nape of her neck and drew her back. This kiss was gentle, melting, numbing. Tilting her face, Helen's mouth softened and heat abruptly flared between them when she parted her lips for him. His hand moved from her neck to band his arms around her waist and rib cage; drawing her body flush against his. Helen's arms rose without volition and wound around his neck. Breathless moments passed before their lips parted, both gasping for air. Nikola pressed a soft kiss to the corner of her mouth. "Theory disproved." He murmured smugly. Helen flushed, the fog that had settled over her brain immediately dissipating.

"Niko..." She began, trying to extract herself from his embrace.

He tightened his arms. "Would it be so bad to love me?" He demanded, frowning.

Helen stared at him. "I _do_ love you." She said softly.

He raised one eyebrow. "And for that matter, you also love that hulking hairball that butles for you."

"Of course I do." Helen nodded.

"So do you kiss him like that, too?" Nikola murmured.

"No." Helen said.

"It's different with me, then?"

"Are you going to be insufferable and superior if I say it is?" Helen asked, raising her own eyebrows at him.

"I'm going to thank the Good Lord if you say it." Nikola said with a saintly expression on his foxy face.

"Dust off your prayer book." Helen sighed with a wry twist of her lips. "Because I love you."

"Hm. I thought you might someday." Nikola said with rough satisfaction in his voice. He tilted his face and kissed her breathless.

She blinked dazed eyes open and finally said. "Well?"

"What?" Nikola frowned. "Oh! Those three little words? I laid my cards on the table ages ago, Helen. You were just too thick to believe me."

"In fairness, you did try to kill me shortly after telling me you cared for me. That sends quite a mixed signal to a lady." Helen pointed out. Just to try it out, she leaned in and kissed his chin.

"Well!" He said, flustered and happy with her affectionate gesture. His arms tightened around her and she tucked her head under his chin. Both solitary people simply soaked in holding and being held for a moment.

The car turned down the drive to the London Sanctuary and Nikola finally said, his voice muffled, into her hair. "If you're still holding that you-tried-to-kill-me thing over my head on our fiftieth anniversary I may actually have to kill you."

Helen laughed. They drew apart and tidied rumpled appearances, Helen looking shyly at Nikola and Nikola looking quite ardent and intent, in spite of still needing Helen's help to climb the steps to the Sanctuary doors.

"Hello then! Where is it?" Declan Macrae greeted them at the door. Helen handed him the small container that held the device. Declan took it and said. "Good to see you, Helen. Under the circumstances, I'm going to toss this little gadget into isolation and let you two get a bit of rest before supper."

"We appreciate it, Declan." Helen said. Nikola just eyed Declan Macrae with his usual smooth expression.

"Hello, Mister Tesla." Declan smiled at Nikola.

"Macrae." Nikola said without inflection.

"I had them bring a bottle of ninety-eight Chateau Léoville-Las-Cases to your room. It's decanted and breathing." Declan said with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Oh! Well, then." Nikola blinked, considering that. "Hello to you." He smirked.

"Second floor. Your usual rooms, Helen, and we made up the neighboring suite for Mister Tesla." Declan said.

"Thank you again, Declan. We'll see you at supper to discuss what's going on."

"Seven' o'clock." Declan said. Helen nodded and she and Nikola made their way upstairs to their rooms.


	7. Chapter 7

**There is no method to my madness. I sort of go where the spirit leads me without knowing in advance where my stories are headed. This one just got a little dirty. Mind the rating change! Hope you enjoy it. :) Juju**

* * *

Nikola suffered through panicked happiness while Helen fussed over him. Helen always fussed, she was the nurturing sort, but now…things were different. He had the universe in his hands at last and he was deathly afraid of fumbling it. He kept his relaxed, careless posture while she moved around doing all kinds of unnecessary things. Underneath, he was two breaths from pouncing on her.

"If you take a bath, don't get your sutures wet." Helen was telling him.

He smirked. "I'm fairly well-versed in basic wound care. Anyway, you've got me so bandaged I doubt I could wet it if I tried."

Helen gave him an exasperated look. God, he loved that look. It was his third-favorite, after smiling Helen and aroused Helen. "I'm just looking after you." She said.

"You could stay and help me bathe if you're so concerned." He suggested with a gleaming grin. "You wouldn't want me to hurt myself."

"Saucy." She said primly, smothering a smile. "Get some rest or I'll hurt you myself."

"Promise?" Nikola replied, his eyes stroking down her with naked ardor. "I had no idea you were so progressive."

Helen burst into laughter and then stepped up to him, allowing their bodies to brush. "I'll have to let you heal a bit before I show you how progressive I can be." She said in a velvety tone, giving him a taste of his own medicine.

Nikola's eyes narrowed, burned. She gave him a heady female smile and the same slow perusal he'd just given her. "Helen." Nikola said, a little breathlessly.

"Mm?" She said, enjoying having all the power for a moment. Nikola grabbed her and kissed her thoroughly, shifting the balance of power so quickly her head spun. This man really didn't believe in doing anything less than perfectly. Helen's mind wandered to what that might mean about his skills in bed and her body started a slow burn. His lips slid down her neck.

"You smell lovely." He murmured against her skin.

"I can't imagine that's true." Helen muttered with a breathless laugh.

"Mmm." He said. "Come on then." He was unbuttoning her blouse, tugging it off, tossing it on the bed and backing her into the bathroom.

"Nikola?" She questioned in a husky voice.

"Come on." He repeated. "Make sure I don't hurt myself, Doctor." He was unbuttoning his waistcoat with one hand and reached to turn on the shower with the other. He whipped off his jacket and waistcoat, hung them over the doorknob and pulled his shirttails out of his trousers. He kept his eyes on hers the whole time. She was entranced by the dark heat she saw in them and was sure she could never be fooled again by his shallow behavior now that she saw the depths of what lay beneath. His white shirt joined his other clothes on the doorknob and he ran his eyes down her. "I love you in blue." He said, eying the pale blue bra she wore. She blushed. "She blushes." He whispered to no one, smiling. He unbuttoned his trousers, reached to do the same with hers.

His warm, clever fingers brushed her stomach and Helen let out a shuddering breath and suddenly came to life. She grabbed him, unzipped his trousers and boldly slid her hand inside, stroking him. He hissed out a breath and pressed closer. "Shame you're such a shy little thing." He rasped, grinning with satisfaction and claiming her laughing lips. In a blur, he had them out of their remaining garments and was tugging Helen into the shower, under the hot spray.

Once inside her kissed her firmly and set her away from him. "What?" Helen said, panting and soaked. Nikola had kept himself from standing directly under the spray.

Nikola grinned, his eyes glowing, and he reached for the shampoo. He held it up with a raised brow. Helen laughed. "Is this one of your fantasies? Washing my hair?" She teased, aroused by the thought.

"It never was before, but it's steadily growing on me." Nikola turned her around and squeezed shampoo into her wet hair. His long, skillful fingers started to massage her scalp and all coherent thoughts flew out of her mind. She moaned. "Oh, I like that sound." He murmured in her ear in a silky tone. "So much better than your usual insulting chatter."

She gave a shuddering laugh as one of his hands, slippery with shampoo, slid down her spine to her hips, gripped, and pulled her back against his body. His arousal pressed lushly against her buttocks and her mind scrambled. She hadn't really had an opportunity to look at him but, _Good Lord_, he felt…

He had the soap now and was moving briskly, lathering them both and rinsing her from head to toe. He lingered a bit over certain areas of her anatomy, but still moved quickly. He turned off the shower and grabbed towels.

"The bed." Helen said urgently. They were only partly dry, but she pulled him back into the bedroom. He pushed her backward onto the mattress and followed her down. His fingers slid between her thighs, finding her slick and hot.

"_Lovely girl_." He breathed, stroking her and pressing a lingering kiss to her throat. She panted once, twice, and flew over the peak with a strangled moan.

"Niko." She whispered huskily, reaching for him. He went into her embrace, sliding into her body heavily and driving the breath from her lungs. She hiccupped a laugh. "God." She gasped.

Nikola laughed, panting as he balanced his weight on his elbows. "Blasphemy!" He declared with a wide smile. Helen shifted, trying to adjust to him, and his eyes crossed. He quickly stilled her hips with one hand, propping himself with the other arm. "Hold still a moment, darling, or I'll disgrace myself." He said in a tight voice. Helen stilled and they both lay unmoving, breathing heavily. Nikola rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. "I love you." He whispered.

Helen smiled softly and stroked her fingers through his wild, partially wet hair. "I'm starting to believe that." She teased. "It was easier to trust you without your self control."

"Mm." Nikola murmured with a slow smile. "Then let me show you the advantage of me _with_ my self control." He invited.

He showed her and they missed supper.


	8. Chapter 8

They lay together afterward in a boneless, naked tangle in the center of Nikola's bed. "How's your head?" Helen mumbled in a sleepy voice.

"Jackhammers." Nikola replied ruefully. "Yours?"

"Sledgehammers." She replied with a chuckle. "We might have overdone it."

"I haven't even _started_ to overdo it." Nikola said with a smug look at her. "Wait till you catch me on a day when I _haven't_ had anything surgically removed from my brain."

"Hmmmm." Helen said in a disbelieving tone, looking at him from eyes narrowed in amusement. "Promises, promises."

"Untrusting witch." Nikola returned with disgust, he turned his head and kissed her temple. "I need something for this head, food, and about three days in bed. You're welcome to join me for all of the above." He sat up and found his shorts and trousers and pulled them on, leaving the button of the trousers unhooked.

Helen pulled on her panties and retrieved his dress shirt from the bathroom doorknob. Nikola frowned. On one hand, he really enjoyed the sight of Helen in his shirt, on the other, his compulsive nature was bothered. "Let me get you a clean one." He said, shifting in discomfort. Helen laughed, but accepted the folded, clean shirt he produced from his bag. She slipped into it and he exhaled, the tension gone. "Cute." He said approvingly, smirking at her. He found the decanter of wine and poured glasses for both of them. "Who do we call for room service?"

"I'll take care of that." Helen said. She found the telephone, made apologies for missing supper and asked for food and acetaminophen. As she ended the call, her cell phone rang in her bag, which had never made it into her room. She dug it out and opened it. "Hello Will." She said.

Nikola sat on the bed and watched her, sipping his wine.

"We're in the Sanctuary. How much has Declan said?" Helen said. She paused as Will spoke. "I see. Yes, Declan has it. We're going to examine it in the morning. Yes. I'm fine. I was checked out at the hospital after Nikola's surgery. Nikola? He's well. Very healthy." She looked at Nikola and gave him a flirtatious smile. He grinned. "I will. No. No, I need you there to run things. I'll be in touch tomorrow after we look at the device. Yes. Yes. Okay. Goodbye." She folded the small phone and said. "Will asked me to pass along his wishes for a speedy recovery."

Nikola scoffed dismissively.

"Oh, come now, Nikola. He's just being kind. What are you so beastly to him?" Helen laughed, retrieving her wine and joining him on the bed.

"That one's just waiting until he grows up to be old enough for you." Nikola said grudgingly.

"Jealous!" Helen laughed at him with delight. "You're _jealous_ of Will? How bizarre."

Nikola scowled at her. "That pretty idiot makes calf eyes you all the time." He said.

"Oh, Nikola." Helen was still laughing when a knock came at the door. "Get that while I go to my room. I don't want to cause gossip." Nikola grinned at her and pulled on another clean shirt while she slipped through the door joining their rooms.

She kept a few items of clothing in the wardrobe in her room and quickly pulled on a robe over Nikola's shirt before the knock came at her door. She accepted the tray of food from a teenaged boy who she remembered as Declan's nephew. "Thank you, Ian." She said.

"No' a problem." The young man shrugged, his accent heavily Scottish. "Left the Tylenol with himself."

Helen smiled. "Good. Tell your uncle we'll be down for breakfast. I think we were more exhausted than we thought."

The teenager gave her a masculine smirk and a flush crept up his neck. _Not a stupid boy_, Helen thought with a rueful smile, _so much for spelling gossip_. Closing the door, she carried her supper tray into Nikola's room.

"I'll need to have some things laundered." Nikola announced when she entered. "You've got my last clean shirt."

"Put them in the chute in the hall, they'll be returned in the morning." Helen said. She shrugged off the robe and, with a feline smile, stripped off his shirt and handed it to him. He looked briefly stunned before clearing his throat and grinning.

"Bold as brass, you hussy." He said with a smirk, his eyes admiring her wearing only a pair of pale blue panties. He gave her a quick hard kiss. Helen laughed and stepped away from him, pulling her robe on again. Nikola collected his laundry and hers and ducked into the corridor to put them into the laundry chute. Helen set out their suppers and swallowed two Tylenol.

"I'm worried about what that thing might turn out to be Nikola." She said without preamble when he returned, shutting the door behind him.

"It turned me into a zombie in less than three hours, Helen. I'm a bit perturbed myself." Nikola said coolly, sitting down and swallowing two pain tablets with a mouthful of wine then examining his supper with a jaundiced eye. "What is wrong with you Brits? Do you have to boil _everything_? Everything on this plate is _beige_. Even the vegetable." He complained.

Helen chuckled. She was eating absently, without really tasting the food. Nikola picked at his plate, pushing things around with his fork and inspecting them closely. "It would be very easy to make an army of zombies if that technology works on more than only you." She said. "Human _and _abnormal, perhaps."

Nikola shrugged in a noncommittal way, a frown of thought on his face. "It seems that it drew its power from me, so perhaps we can assume it wouldn't work on just anyone. We'll know more once I dissect it."

"You?" Helen asked.

"Who better?" Nikola said with a toothy arrogant grin. He popped a forkful of food in his mouth, looked baffled, and swallowed hard.

"I admit you're the logical choice for your skills, but that thing feeds off you and turns you into Lassie." Helen said archly.

"So I'll do it carefully." Nikola said with sparkling eyes. "You snipped its strings, it's probably harmless now."

"Hm." Helen said, taking a bite of beige vegetable. "It's carrots." She said with surprise, inspecting her plate.

Nikola gave a sharp cough of laughter and refilled her wine glass. "Wash it down with enough of this and it'll all come out even. This is liquid gold." Helen smiled at him with that expression on her face again, the one he hadn't recognized before. He knew it now. "You're in love with me." He told her with a self-satisfied grin.

"You were in love with me first." Helen shot back mildly.

"Yes, well, I've always been a few steps ahead of you." Nikola replied smugly. "I'm a genius."


	9. Chapter 9

"Now see if you can remove the plating on the right side." Nikola said, his voice testy. He stood with his hands on his hips, fidgeting. "_My_ right." He snarled, when Helen tried to do as he asked.

She gave him a frosty look. "You needed surgeon's hands, you've got surgeon's hands. But I'm not an engineer, Nikola, and I can't possibly guess whose right you mean."

"If I could just…" He reached for the tools she held delicately over the tiny device they were attempting to dismantle under a magnifying lens. She pulled the tools out of his reach.

"Last time you touched it, it brought down the EM shields." She reminded him sternly.

"For six minutes." Nikola said dismissively.

"Yes." Helen said pointedly. "Six. Minutes. Six minutes that this facility and all of the lives it harbors could have been easily open to attack."

Nikola sighed theatrically and waved his hands around as he said. "Are we really so concerned that your ex will pop in?"

Helen rolled her eyes at him. "Now you're just being childish. You know the EM shield keeps out more than just John."

Nikola looked petulant. "I know." He said grudgingly. "I designed it, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did." Helen said with a praising smile.

Nikola smirked. "Now you're just being condescending." He accused, mimicking her with a sparkle in his eyes.

"Shall we continue?" Helen said, smothering a smile.

"Remove the plating on _my_ right hand side." Nikola repeated, leaning in closely as Helen delicately did so, exposing the interior of the tiny object. Nikola shouldered her out of the way and peered through the magnifying lens. He began muttering to himself and suddenly said. "Do we have any toothpicks?"

"Tooth..?" Helen started, understood, and said. "I'll call the kitchen." She went to the phone on the wall and requested toothpicks and Nikola stood, bent over the device, his hands fluttering anxiously with the desire to touch it. "They're sending a box over." She said, returning. She gently took hold of his hands, partly to comfort his frustrated, compulsive need to understand the device he couldn't touch and partly to make absolutely certain that he didn't touch it again. She leaned in and brushed a kiss across his cheekbone.

He blinked at her as if he had forgotten she existed and, for a moment, she could see his internal struggle. Need to learn, explore, and understand versus a stunned pleasure at her affectionate touch. Helen smiled into his frowning face and he relaxed into a careless arrogant grin. His body, previously en pointe with tense energy, seemed to loosen at every joint into a nonchalant pose as he gave her a slow sweeping look. "Well, you may be rubbish as a lab assistant, but you do improve the scenery." He said smugly.

She raised her eyes to the ceiling and shook her head at him. "Ridiculous man." She said and was surprised when he yanked her gracefully into his arms to kiss her just until her mind started to buzz before he set her free with a smirk. She blinked and then gave him an exasperated look, fighting a smile. "Ridiculous." She repeated, pointing at him.

He grinned rakishly and leaned one hand on the lab table next to the device. The lights flickered wildly and he jumped. "_Maledizione_." He said, cursing in Italian. "Beg your pardon, my dear." He said in a frustrated tone, running agitated hands through his hair. "This table is metal. I think you'll find the EM shield is down again."

The phone in the lab rang and, with a sigh, Helen answered it. "Yes? Yes, it was us. My apologies. It was an accident." She paused, listening. "Well, get it running again as soon as possible. And can we borrow a wooden table from the library? Yes. Just bring it to the lab. Thank you." She hung up and gave Nikola a wry look.

He held up his hands in baffled innocence and she nodded.

"Not your fault." She said. "I think we'd better get a non-conductive work station set up in the lab before we continue. Care for lunch?"

Nikola looked fretfully at the device on the table as if it would disappear and take all its mysteries with it if he didn't keep working. Helen smiled affectionately at this. "It'll still be here when we get back." She said gently, approaching him to take him hand and draw him out of the room. He gave her a long, calculating look.

"You're _humoring_ me." He said in distaste. "How insulting."

"I've always humored you." Helen replied drily.

Nikola scoffed dismissively and then smirked. He tightened his grip on her hand and tugged her down a corridor.

"The dining room is the other way." Helen said with amusement.

"And lunch is forty-five minutes away. Until then, _humor me_." He said with a gleaming smile and hypnotic eyes. He pulled her into the elevator and hit the button for the second floor, wiped his hands on his handkerchief and pounced, cutting off Helen's laughter with his lips.

They arrived a little late for lunch. Helen was looking slightly rosy and Nikola was looking arrogant and pleased with himself. The several staff members already eating looked at his gleaming grin warily, having previously either experienced or heard of Nikola Tesla. Helen was silently amused when the room cleared quickly.

Nikola didn't pay any attention to the staff's retreat, but looked down at the dishes on the table and groaned. "More brown food." He said.

Declan entered the room just in time to hear Nikola. "Welcome to the UK, mate." He said cheerily. "Fried or boiled."

Nikola scowled at him and then scowled at the food. With a sigh, he seated himself and cautiously placed a few brown objects onto his plate. Using his knife and fork unlike Declan and Helen, who were eating with their fingers, he delicately cut into one of the items. "Fish?" He guessed.

"It's a fish supper, Nikola." Helen said, her eyes laughing at him.

"It's no' always this bad. Ian's doing the cooking this week. He can't do much more than fish, chips, sandwiches, and boiled dinners. The chef took a holiday for her niece's wedding." Declan said, finally having mercy on Tesla.

"When will she be back?" Nikola asked immediately.

"Tomorrow." Declan said, sliding an amused glance at Helen. She smothered a smile.

Nikola gave the room, in general, a relieved look and ate his bite of fried fish. He sent Helen a martyred expression. She grinned and ate a bite of fish at him.

"I have the boys bringing a table down the lab for you." Declan said, changing the subject. "Anything yet?"

"We only just managed to open it up. Nothing else." Helen said. "Although, it's quite obvious now that it requires a very strong outside EM currant to operate. The EM shield is nowhere near powerful enough, which makes me believe it was specifically designed with Nikola in mind. And that whoever invented it has extensive knowledge of Nikola's abilities."

"Or!" Nikola, who had been moodily staring at his plate, suddenly came to life. "They _do_ have another abnormal with similar abilities."

Declan's eyebrows shot up. "They've got an abnormal with EM abilities?" He said. "Where did you hear this?"

Nikola waved a dismissive hand. "It was just rumors. After the little fracas in Amsterdam, I assumed they'd constructed the rumors to bait me."

"If they've got a brainwashed EM generator already, why would they want Nikola?" Helen mused. "Other than the obvious…"

"Occam's Razor." Declan said. "We've spotted some known Cabal agents mooching about the area since you arrived. Mister Tesla is extremely powerful, likely much more so than whatever they've currently got. And a perfectly obedient Tesla could possibly modify that device to work on…anyone."

"_Possibly_?" Nikola repeated in an affronted tone. "Of _course_ I could."

Helen chuckled then looked thoughtful. "It's a reasonable theory. Combined with your sightings of Cabal operatives, this means Nikola is in danger."

Tesla glanced back and forth between the two Sanctuary heads. "I'm not being locked up for my own good so don't even think it." He declared sternly.

"Declan, can you arrange safe and _discreet_ transport for us and the device back to the Old City Sanctuary?" Helen said, as if Tesla hadn't spoken. "I'd feel more comfortable in my own lab and Nikola has a work room set up there as well. If we can leave here without the Cabal knowing, it will buy us time."

"No' a problem." Declan said, nodding. "Druitt's been around the last week or so. He'll do it."

Helen became alert. "Why has John Druitt been around?"

"Transported two abnormals to Japan for us. They only breathe nitrogen so instant transport from our facility to theirs was an easy fix." Declan said. He held up a hand to stay Helen's concerns. "Believe me; I'm always on my game when Druitt's around. But he's got his uses. It's the quickest, most covert way to travel."

Helen subsided, considering this.

"A reunion with dear old Jack." Nikola said with macabre humor. "How charming." He tossed his fork and napkin onto the table next to his barely-touched plate. "And just when I've lost the ability to bounce back from his favorite form of communication." Nikola placed a hand over his abdomen, where John Druitt had once eviscerated him using only his bare hands.

Helen clicked her tongue in irritation; she couldn't help feeling uneasy that John Druitt had begun haunting the UK Sanctuary. "We must be on our guards." She said decisively. "I don't disagree that John may be our best opportunity but he's got to have other motivations for being here. John doesn't do anyone favors. He's…" She broke off. A frown crossed her face and she looked to Nikola to say what she couldn't.

"Evil." Nikola finished her sentence looking seriously into her eyes. His jaw flexed, hating the raging jealousy Druitt summoned from him simply by continuing to breathe. Hating that Helen still felt something, even if it was simply disappointment, fear, and anger, for the bastard.

"Evil." Helen echoed at a whisper. She reached blindly for Nikola and he grasped her hand and squeezed. She gave Nikola a tight smile, appreciating this small show of support and concern. "How have you been contacting him?" She asked, turning to Declan.

Declan was now looking a little spooked. "He's…he's been contacting us." Declan had the grace to look abashed. "I didn't look a gift horse in the mouth, Helen. I'm sorry. I needed a way to transport that pair of abnormals and he showed up…"

Helen shook her head. "You don't know him well, it isn't your fault. Your experiences with him have not been indicative of his broader nature."

Declan looked only slightly less upset by Helen's absolution. "He's been in touch every couple of days. I haven't heard from him since day before yesterday. I'll let you know the second I've got him on the line."

"Thank you, Declan." Helen said. She looked to Nikola. "In the mean time, shall we go see if we can accomplish anything more with the bug?"

"Ready when you are." Nikola said, standing smoothly and gliding after her out of the dining room.


	10. Chapter 10

The lab was set up in wood when Helen and Nikola returned. Helen sighed and said wistfully. "It's a bit nostalgic isn't it?"

Nikola wrinkled his nose and smirked at her. "Antiquated." He replied.

"From the man who claims he's sentimental and romantic." Helen teased, skirting the table and setting the device under the magnifying lens at the wooden table.

"_Romantic_ I believe I've proved conclusively." Nikola grinned. Helen laughed, coloring slightly.

"Oh, and here are your toothpicks!" She said with a smile, holding up a little paper box.

"Good." Nikola snapped into business mode, snatching the box from her and nudging her briskly out of his way. She huffed out an exasperated breath at him. He didn't seem to even notice. He shook two toothpicks from the box and used them to turn the device around, peering at it with his eyebrows drawn together. "Energy relay matrix…" He muttered. Helen watched him carefully, ready to grab him if he tried to touch the object on the table. "Left panel should…open…" He said. He suddenly looked at Helen. "Well?"

"What?" She asked.

"Open the left panel. Try not to damage the energy relay matrix." Nikola said as if speaking to a half-witted child.

Helen gave him a level look.

"Oh, did I not say please?" He said with a mocking smirk. "_Please, _Miss Magnus_?_"

Helen ground her back teeth, trying not to smile at him. "I wouldn't know an energy relay matrix if it bit my ankle." She informed him. "But I'm doing my best not to damage anything."

They traded places and Helen picked up the miniscule metals tools to pry the minute left panel off the belly of the bug. While she did this Nikola said. "The energy relay matrix is what is allowing this object to draw energy from me. If we can deactivate it without damaging it, I'll be able to handle the device."

"I'm doing my best not to damage anything." Helen repeated, her brow knit. "If we only wanted it disabled, we could just smash it. Keeping it intact is our best way to determine how it was able to brainwash you." She looked up at him. "You're hovering." She said, pointedly looking to where he stood, nearly touching her elbow.

Nikola smirked. "Quality control." He said, but took a step back. He bent over the tray where the filaments from the device lay and narrowed his eyes at them. He shot a sidelong glance at Helen, who was absorbed in the delicate task she was performing, and gently put a fingertip on one of the filaments. Nothing happened. He picked it up. "I'm going to examine these." He said.

Helen's head jerked up. He was holding one of the filaments in his bare hand. "Nikola!"

"No compatible power source." He said with a grin.

Helen blew out a breath and mustered her patience. "Right." She said, gave herself a brisk mental shake, and returned to her task.

Several minutes passed in silence, except for Nikola's barely audible mutterings to himself. He finally said in a volatile tone. "This one isn't just an anchoring wire, but you can only see it under magnification. It's a resonant circuit transformer used to send high voltage, low current, high frequency alternating current." He snapped his teeth and tossed the last filament down on the table.

"Isn't that…?" Helen asked, wincing.

"Yes." Nikola snapped. He swore fluently in two languages.

"Language." Helen admonished.

"It's a Tesla coil." Nikola said, appearing to be on the brink of a tantrum. "I don't care for the irony."

At that moment, Helen managed to detach the tiny panel. "Oh! I've got it." Nikola put his hands on his hips and took several deep breaths, then glided over to her.

"Pardon me." He said with a great deal of apparent effort. Helen moved out of his way and he picked up his pair of toothpicks again, turning the device this way and that in deep concentration. "High energy disruptions. Transmissions." He said. "How would they….?" He lapsed into silence.

"Could the device simply be a way to change the frequency of your own energy to disrupt your prefrontal cortex function?" Helen wondered aloud.

"I'll leave the anatomy and physiology to you, Doctor." Nikola said, turning to her with satisfaction. "But it is simply an energy transmitter. It was using my own power to fire the coil to send pulses."

"Likely disrupting the prefrontal cortex, as I said." Helen said, getting excited and turning to a computer terminal to make notes. "Sort of like causing static in the frontopolar and parietal cortex. Keeping all your fine skills without the free will and decision-making capabilities. How extraordinary."

"The doctor talk really works for me." Nikola told her silkily, eying her up and down.

"It would be difficult to be certain of it without seeing it in action on an MRI." Helen continued thoughtfully, giving him an amused glance.

"It's not going back in my head." Nikola warned.

Helen gave a bright laugh. "I wasn't suggesting that. We simply need to repair it and have you activate it to see what frequencies it produces. But…"

"But we can't do that here." Nikola finished her sentence.

"Not when the Cabal knows we're here. We can't keep chancing it with the EM shield." Helen nodded, a contemplative look on her face. The phone rang and Helen picked it up. "Yes? Yes. We'll be right there." She said and hung up. She turned to Nikola. "John's here."

"Oh, goody." Nikola said darkly. He rolled his shoulders and brushed at his sleeves. He held out his hand. "Shall we?"

Helen gave him a tight smile, took his hand, and rose.

* * *

John Druitt was standing in Declan's office when they walked in. John's eyes shot to their clasped hands and his face became malevolent. "Helen, Nikola, what a delightful surprise to find you here…together." He said with cold joviality. Helen started to draw her hand from Nikola's, but he tightened his grip.

"Can it, Druitt." Nikola said bluntly, his eyes gleaming and intent. "Everyone here knows it's not delightful _or_ a surprise."

John's eyes narrowed.

Declan sat back in his desk chair, watching the two men. "Shall I run for a measuring tape?" He asked cheekily. Both men instantly shot him deadly looks.

"Stop it, both of you." Helen said sharply. "Everyone sit down." She let go of Nikola's hand and sat on the sofa.

Nikola looked at her and subsided, sitting beside her. John shifted his weight and finally lowered himself into a chair, still watching Nikola with predatory eyes.

"Are you armed?" Helen asked John.

John's glance slid to her and a cold smile curved his lips. "They took everything but my belt and shoes. So…yes. I'm armed." He said smugly.

Nikola heaved an exasperated sigh and rolled his eyes.

Helen ignored both of them posturing and stuck to the point. "What are you doing here?"

"Mister Macrae invited me when I called." John replied.

"For heaven's sake." Helen said. "Out with it."

"Oh, and there's this." John said, pulling a sheet of paper from his jacket's inside pocket. Helen took it and unfolded it.

"A schematic of the device?" She said in disbelief. Nikola snatched the paper from her and immediately began examining it.

"No." He said after a moment. "This is a modification…it wouldn't work." He looked up with a frown.

"Could you make it work?" John said in a dark, silky tone. His eyes grew intent.

Nikola scoffed and bent to examine the paper again. "Yes." He said with certainty.

"Too bad." John mused and his expression lost its intensity. He began to rise.

"John, sit." Helen said. "Explain. How did you get that paper?"

"The Cabal's portable EM shield is still in its beta version. I popped in during that little scuffle in Amsterdam. You provided a useful distraction." John said, slowly returning his weight to the chair.

"You've been following us?" Helen said.

John gave her a long look. "I've been following _Tesla_." He corrected pointedly.

"Why?" Helen asked, ignoring his jab.

"They want him." John replied with a small cold smile. "And they've got something we all want."

Helen shook her head. "Do you really think they'd give up the Source for Nikola?"

"No." John admitted. "But I'd enjoy handing him over anyway. And once they've got him hooked up to their system, there would be gaps in their permanent EM shield for a time, would there not? I could stroll right in and retrieve the Source blood."

"So why not just take Nikola? You've had dozens of opportunities." Helen said.

"Because he wasn't sure if the device could actually work." Nikola supplied, slipping the schematic into his jacket pocket. "If he handed me over and I _could _build the modified device, he'd be handing the Cabal the formula for an army of zombies, which isn't worth the risk."

"You always were a bright sort of lad." John said condescendingly.

"So we're at a stalemate." Helen said. "Handing over Nikola is out of the question, so you can't get the blood. Will you help us return to the Old City?"

"It's in my best interest, isn't it?" John said with a smirk. Helen was chilled slightly at the shared personality traits of John and Nikola and firmly reminded herself that each man had chosen his path and John's choice had been one of murder, evil, destruction, and vice. Nikola was, at worst, a selfish megalomaniac with poor social skills. Nikola was not an evil man.

"And once I've sussed this little bug out, it's back to open season on me." Nikola supplied drily.

"On the nose, old boy." John said mildly. "Watch your back."

"I'll be watching his back too, John." Helen said flatly.

"I really don't need the dirty details." John said in disgust. Helen flushed.

"Enough." Declan broke in, speaking for the first time. His voice carried authority, reminding everyone in the room that he was a man of power. "Doctor Magnus, Mister Tesla, I suggest you collect your things. I'll have the device packed up. Mister Druitt?"

John raised his eyebrows in question.

"You can wait outside." Declan said, his expression brooking no argument. "I'll show you out."

Declan led John from the room and Helen looked at Nikola, letting out a tense breath. "He always puts me on edge." She said.

"How forbearing of you. He puts _me_ right _over_ the edge." Nikola replied mildly, giving her an amused look.

"He makes you look like a choirboy in comparison." Helen said in a teasing tone, regaining some humor.

"What an insulting creature you are." Nikola said with a dramatically hurt expression. "I can't imagine why I tolerate you."

Helen gave him a long, gleaming look.

"Oh." Nikola said with a smug grin. He took her hand. "That's right."

They exited the office and went to collect their things.


	11. Chapter 11

Helen and Nikola exited the UK Sanctuary doors to find John sitting on the front steps. He looked up and stood. "Nice afternoon." He said absently, falling into a century-old habit of simply knowing the people he was with.

"It's rare this time of year." Nikola returned mildly.

Helen smiled tightly. It would be so easy for them all to allow themselves to forget for a few minutes and simply be the people they were when they'd first met in friendship. But, reality always came barging back in. In this case, reality's name was Helen Magnus. "They're expecting us within fifteen minutes in the Old City, John." She said. "Take us anywhere but there and my people will come for you."

John's jaw flexed and he gave her a dark look. His right hand reached deftly toward the inside pocket of his black duster.

"Bad idea, Druitt." Nikola said. Two knives and a razor sprang off of Druitt's body and glided through the air to rest in Nikola's open palm. Nikola examined them in distaste. "A straight razor? How very Sweeney Todd. I feel a song coming on." He said acidly.

"New trick, Nikola?" John said mildly, only just concealing his surprise.

Nikola smirked and slid the weapons into his satchel. "You can have them back later." He said smugly.

"I could take them off you now." John said between clenched teeth.

"Oh, I wouldn't advise it, Jack." Nikola purred with a feral grin.

"Gentlemen?" Helen intervened briskly. "Shall we?"

Both men turned to her, saw her determined face, and glanced back at each other, reaching a silent and temporary truce. Druitt placed his hands on their shoulders and, with an unsettling lurch, they were suddenly standing outside the gates of the Old City Sanctuary in the bright morning sunlight. "Won't you come in for breakfast?" Helen said brightly to John.

Druitt blinked. Nikola gave her a small frown.

"Helen…" Nikola started.

"I'd love to." Druitt said, shooting a victorious look at Nikola.

The three made their way into the massive stone edifice and were greeted by Henry and Will. They had expected Nikola's presence, but John Druitt was a surprise. Both looked at Helen as if she'd walked in carrying a handful of vipers. Will recovered first. "Tesla, Druitt." He said with a nod.

Nikola gave both young men a haughty, dismissive glance. Druitt nodded curtly.

"John is staying for breakfast." Helen explained mildly.

"Uh, well, Bigfoot just said breakfast is ready." Henry offered.

"Wonderful. Show John to the dining room, would you Will? Henry, Nikola, will you help me with these things?" She held out her satchel and the box containing the bug to them. Henry took the bug, Nikola took the satchel. "We'll join you in fifteen minutes. We just need to run these to the labs."

The moment Will and Druitt walked away, Helen said. "Come on." Tesla and Henry glanced at each other and followed her. She continued talking as they walked. "If John is after Nikola, the best place for him is here, where he can't use his talents. In order to determine how this device works, we'll need Nikola to activate it. When he does, the EM shield will fail. We'll need to record the frequency the device emits and get the shield back up immediately."

"Okay." Henry said as they reached the lab.

"We need to get it done now, before John realizes what we're up to and before the Cabal tracks us here." Helen said. "Henry, shut off the EM shield alarm and get ready to bring the shield back online. When Nikola touches the bug, the shields will fail and electrical systems go crazy for a moment. Hopefully we'll be able to get the information we need before John realizes what's going on."

Nikola grabbed the box with the device in it as Henry sat at a computer terminal. Helen was rapidly putting commands into another terminal. "I'll record every condition while the device is activated. Nikola, can you put that thing back together _very _quickly?"

Nikola grinned. "I'm _very_ good with my hands." He said, giving her a gleaming look. He flipped the box open and poured the contents onto the plastic table, pulled over a magnifying lens and light, and quickly sorted through the filaments, finding the miniscule coil among them. Grabbing the tiny precision tools and a soldering iron he looked at Henry and Helen and said. "Say when."

"Alarms are off, shield commands are open." Henry said.

Helen typed rapidly, turned to Nikola and nodded. "Go." She said.

Nikola picked up the bug. The lights flickered madly for a moment as the EM shield failed. Henry began the process of bringing the EM shield back online.

Helen kept her eyes on the monitor, watching the readings as Nikola deftly reassembled the plating on the tiny device and began reattaching the tiny filament that had so recently been lodged in his brain.

"Say the word." Henry said, his voice tense.

"Thirty seconds." Nikola said, his hands a blur. "There. Getting anything, Helen?"

"Yes, yes. Fascinating." She replied. "Hold it…okay. Drop it."

Nikola dropped the tiny thing onto the table.

"Henry." Helen said.

"EM shield, coming right…" Henry typed furiously.

John Druitt appeared in a burst of red sparks. "Clever, Helen." He said. "I suppose you have all the data you need now so you won't need Tesla anymore, will you?" He reached for Nikola.

"Up!" Henry finished triumphantly. "Shields are back up." He heaved a huge breath.

John glared and, with a graceful movement, produced a blade from his sleeve. "I suppose we'll do it the hard way, then."

Nikola looked at the blade with narrowed eyes.

"It's made of porcelain." John said with a cocky smile.

Nikola grinned back and a large metal shelving unit rose gracefully into the air behind him, books and other materials sliding off onto the floor. "And _this_ is made of steel, I believe. Several hundred pounds of it, in fact." He said and smirked. "Let's see who shatters first."

John hesitated, weighing his options. "It really is a neat little trick, Niko." He said finally, relaxing his posture and letting the hand holding the blade drop to his side.

"I know." Nikola said smugly, relaxing slightly but keeping the shelves aloft. Helen and Henry had edged toward the doors during this exchange. John slid a glance at them and gave Nikola a small smile, stepping away from the door to allow them exit.

Just as Helen and Henry reached the doors, John moved like a flash and grabbed Helen, delivering a vicious left-handed punch to Henry's temple in the process. Henry's eyes flashed bright green and he crumpled into unconsciousness. John held the porcelain blade to Helen's throat.

"Checkmate." John said with a smile.


	12. Chapter 12

John's eyes were wild, possessed, and his hand shook with the effort of not simply plunging the blade into Helen's jugular. He took a deep breath, as if enjoying the scent of Helen's fear.

Nikola froze and the shelving unit dropped to the floor with a loud bang and rattle of shelves. He gave John a smirk. "Don't fool yourself, Druitt." He said pompously.

"_I'm _not the fool, Niko." John said with a slow, bitter grin. "You think I won't hurt her?"

"I know you will." Nikola said with a mild expression as he glided forward toward John, Helen, and the exit. John backed up slightly, tugging Helen with him. Nikola stepped over Henry's motionless body. "Just do me a favor and do it after I've left. You know how I hate a mess."

"I know a lot about you." John reminded him. "Enough to know you're bluffing. Stay where you are! I would just _hate_ to slit this soft white throat."

"John." Helen whispered brokenly, her eyes wide and fixed on Nikola, who had frozen in place. "Please."

"Begging only makes it better, my dear." John murmured intimately in her ear.

"Trade her for me." Nikola said abruptly. "You wanted me and here I am. But make it quick, Druitt, because there's going to be a werewolf joining us presently."

Henry shifted on the floor and groaned. The groan trailed into a deep guttural growl. John's eyes flicked to Henry, lying behind Nikola, and he couldn't disguise a flash of surprise. He backed toward the door, pulling Helen.

"Right this way, old boy." He said. Once out of the lab area, he kept a grip on Helen and jerked his head to Nikola. "Walk in front of us. We're all going outside."

"Nikola, he'll take us both if he's outside the EM shield." Helen gasped.

"I'm not simple, Helen." Nikola replied wryly as he slowly circled Druitt and Helen to go before them. He kept one eye on Henry, now behind Druitt's back.

"Move it." Druitt said, pressing the tip of the knife deeper. Helen gasped and tiny trickle of blood slid down her collar. Nikola froze, seeing red. His eyes narrowed ferociously. Druitt grinned.

At that moment a dark, boiling snarl sounded from behind Druitt's back. Henry was sitting up, his eyes feral and glowing green. Druitt's head whipped around, giving Nikola the opening he needed. He rushed Druitt. Helen, with perfect timing, jammed a heel into Druitt's instep and slammed her head backward into his face. John's grip loosened and Nikola landed on him, tearing Helen free and grappling him to the floor. Druitt had the upper hand in this type of combat, still holding the blade and using the advantage of his larger and heavier body, he quickly pinned Nikola beneath him. Helen rolled free of the tangle and gasped out, "Niko!" as Druitt brought the knife up to Nikola's throat.

"I imagine you need me alive." Nikola panted with a smirk.

"Damn shame." Druitt replied, also winded. "Call off your dog, Helen." He commanded. "Or I'll test out his newly recovered mortality and find another way to get what I want from the Cabal."

Helen glanced at Henry, who had already subsided and was watching wide-eyed. Druitt hoisted Nikola to his feet and kept the knife at the ready.

"Shall we?" Druitt said smugly, casually giving Nikola a shallow slice in the side. The knife slid through three layers of clothing and into Nikola's flesh as if it were passing through air. Nikola hissed out a breath of pain.

"John!" Helen exclaimed, her expression horrified.

Both Druitt and Tesla gave harsh laughs simultaneously. "It _still _surprises you?" Nikola asked in resignation, pressing a hand to his side.

Druitt laughed. "Still hoping to reform me, darling? And here I thought you'd stopped caring." He said coldly. "Move." He shoved Nikola toward the corridor leading out of the building.

Nikola gave Helen a look of regret then smoothed his face out into a lazy smile. "Goodbye, Helen." He said carelessly.

"Nikola." She said pleadingly. John pushed Nikola through the door and into the corridor. Helen snatched up a walkie. "Will, can you seal the lab exits? Now."

"Ten seconds." Will's reply crackled.

"Hurry." Helen said, racing after John and Nikola. Henry followed her, grabbing a handful of the precision tools off the work table on his way. They entered the hall and caught up with John and Nikola.

John was just pushing the exit door. It was locked. He turned. "Bad choice, Helen." He said, he brought the knife up.

"Tesla." Henry said, and threw the handful of tiny metal tools at Nikola. They whizzed through the air and, caught in Nikola's magnetic field, whipped around Nikola's body, embedding themselves in John's back, sides, and knife hand. He grunted, arched his back in pain, and loosened his grip on Tesla. Nikola shot free and Helen caught him in her arms.

John pressed his hands over a dozen bleeding wounds. "Not so different, are we?" He muttered, settling against a wall.

"Nikola's nothing like you, John. He's a better man." Helen snapped, clinging to Nikola's waist. "And stop acting like you're dying. If Nikola _were_ anything like you, you would be dead already."

John wheezed out a bitter laugh and slid his weight down the wall to rest on the floor. The porcelain blade dropped to the floor from his limp, bloodied fingers and shattered on the concrete as he lost consciousness.

Helen clung to Nikola tightly. He held her stiffly at first, sorting out his feelings, before wrapping his arms around her and pressing her head to his shoulder, murmuring comforting nonsense. Henry took the walkie from her unresisting fingers and said. "Will? Can you and the Big Guy come help out? We need to get Druitt into the medical unit. He's not critically injured but he is unconscious from the pain."

"Already on the way." Will buzzed back.

Helen gave two deep gulping breaths. Nikola loosened his arms and moved his hands to hold her face, giving her a long look before admitting with a wince and a crooked grin. "You're squeezing right where he knifed me, love."

"Oh!" Helen let go and began unbuttoning Nikola's clothes to see the wound.

"Helen." Nikola grinned, grabbing her hands to still them. "If you're going to undress me, let's go someplace private."

Helen laughed breathlessly. "I'm trying to see how badly you're hurt."

"Uh." Said Henry, looking questioningly on during this exchange. "I think Druitt's probably hurt worse."

Helen glanced at John, still unconscious on the floor. "He'll survive." She said flatly. "When Will and Bigfoot get here put him to the medical unit and restrain him. I'll be in the med unit in five minutes. Come on, Niko."

Nikola shot Henry a meaningful smirk and followed Helen. They passed Will and Bigfoot and Helen repeated her directions to them before hustling Nikola into a small clean medical room. She shut the door and walked into his arms, sighing and laying her head against his chest.

"I thought I would lose you." She murmured, her voice muffled against his shirtfront.

"Oh, I'm afraid you're stuck with me." Nikola replied softly. He pulled back to look into her face, pressing a gentle kiss to her brow.

She lifted onto her tiptoes and kissed him lingeringly. Drawing back she said. "I can't help being hopeful that John might one day change, Nikola. But I assure you it's all that is left of my feelings for him."

Nikola smirked. "Always hopeful that people will be good." He said in amused disgust. "You really are a Pollyanna."

Helen felt the tension leave his body and laughed. "Exactly." She said. "Nikola, I do love you."

"Well!" Nikola said, clearing his throat and grinning. "If you like me so much why are you letting me bleed through one of my favorite suits?" He let go of her and shrugged gracefully out of his jacket, waistcoat, and peeled his shirt with a hiss away from the long, shallow wound in his side. Helen quickly cleaned and examined the cut.

"No stitches, I think. I'll put butterfly clamps on it for now." She said, busily bandaging him as he inspected the damage to his clothing.

"The cut is nearly perfectly on the seam." He said in a pleased voice. "My tailor can repair that."

"I'm so glad to hear your suit will survive." Helen said, teasing him. She finished and cleaned her hands with a sterile wipe.

"Let's see to you as well." Nikola said, indicating the tiny nick at her throat.

With visible effort to overcome compulsive squeamishness, he gently cleaned the dried blood from her neck and put a band-aid over the cut. Letting out a tense breath when he had finished the task and cleaned his hands, he gave her a bright grin and tilted his head to catch her lips. She melted into him, sliding her hands over his bare chest. Several seconds passed breathlessly before they drew apart.

"We must play doctor more often." He said, his voice a little hoarse. "How's your head? You bashed it hard again, you little hellion. Your combat technique lacks variety, but it's effective." She smiled.

"I'll have a headache, but I've already got one so no harm done. I'm going to see to John now. Can you hold this thought?" Helen said huskily, her eyes dropping to his bare torso.

He grinned and said. "I can. I have over a century's experience."

"Hmm." Helen said, her eyes glowing. "It was true, then? From the beginning?"

"From the first second I laid eyes on you, Miss Magnus." Nikola said with a broad grin. "Now go indulge your inexplicable need to be responsible and patch up Saucy Jacky." He gathered his clothing and loosely put on his bloodied shirt. "I'll rejoin you once I've cleaned up."

Helen pecked him one last time on the lips and they exited the room going in opposite directions, Helen to the main medical lab to see if the others had secured Druitt yet and Nikola to retrieve clean clothing.


	13. Chapter 13

John Druitt was awake, shirtless, bloody, and wan-looking when Helen entered the medical lab. Henry, Will, and Bigfoot all stood sentry in the room in spite of the titanium mesh straps restraining Druitt.

"Not going to let me bleed to death after all, Helen?" Druitt asked sourly.

"There was no danger of that. The wounds are all superficial, although painful, I'd imagine." She replied briskly, pulling on latex gloves and giving him an injection of pain killer before picking up a pair of forceps.

"I suppose you fussed over that little scratch I gave Tesla like it was a mortal wound while your Merry Men here manhandled me?" John said acidly.

Helen didn't reply, but gave him a cool look and carefully drew out one of the small tools digging into his flesh. John gave a wheeze of pain when it came free with a minor flow of blood. "Will?" Helen said, holding out the forceps. Will scrambled, found a tray, and held it out for her to drop the bloodied tool into. "Henry? There's a package of gauze in that cabinet. Bigfoot, scrub and glove up."

The men and beast did as she asked. "Bigfoot?" Helen said. "Apply pressure."

The Big Guy grunted and did so, holding a pad of gauze against the wound firmly. John groaned and Helen moved to the next wound, repeating the process.

"When the bleeding stops, I'll clean and stitch." She said. The group worked smoothly, cleaning and bandaging all of the wounds.

Helen then insisted on checking Henry out, shining a tiny light in his eyes and examining his head before declaring him fit for duty.

Nikola arrived looking neat as a pin just as everything was finished and lounged in the doorway with an amused expression.

"Here to gloat, Tesla?" John said, his voice slightly slurred from medication.

"No." Nikola said in disinterest, inspecting his fingers. His dismissiveness drew a more furious response from John than gloating would have, which was Nikola's intention. Nikola ignored him and said. "Helen, I'm going to analyze the data readings from the device, but rest assured I'm still holding the thought." He grinned at her, causing her to flush. "You. With me." He said to Henry, turned and strolled away, expecting to be followed.

Henry scowled at Nikola's back and looked to Helen. She rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Just go, Henry. Make sure he doesn't touch that device again please. We can't risk having the EM shield down while John's here."

Henry sighed and jogged to catch up with Tesla.

Helen stepped back from John, looked at him thoughtfully, and turned to Will and Bigfoot. "Put him in the Shoe." She said.

"Helen!" John said in urgent protest.

"Don't push it, John. That's where we keep the dangerous and rare and you definitely qualify." Helen said. "I'll be down to see you and you can tell me everything you know about the Cabal's plans for the device, including if they're holding another electromagnetic abnormal. If I'm satisfied, I might be able to make things more comfortable for you."

She turned and whisked out of the room.

Will raised his eyebrows at Bigfoot. "Woah." He murmured.

The Big Guy grunted and muttered. "Can you blame her?"

"Not at all." Will said. He took one end of the gurney where Druitt lay and they rolled it out the door.

* * *

Helen was disturbed to hear laughter coming from the lab when she approached it. Both Nikola and Henry laughing_ together_ counted as suspicious in her book. When she entered the room she took in the scene of Henry picking up papers and books and returning them to the shelving unit, now back against the wall, and Nikola standing holding the tiny device in one hand and a small black plastic rectangle in the other. "Nikola! Henry, I thought I told you to keep him away from that thing." Helen burst out before stopping in realization. "The shield didn't go down."

"I _tried_ to stop him." Henry said with a remorseful expression.

Nikola scoffed. "We've been quite brilliant, Henry, stop acting guilty. Women feed off guilt." He ordered.

Helen stared at Nikola. "You called him Henry." She said.

"That's his name, isn't it?" Nikola said, frowning. He looked at Henry for confirmation. Henry nodded.

Helen sighed. "How did you solve it?" She asked, cutting her losses.

Nikola tossed the tiny device onto the table and held up the black rectangle with a maniac grin on his face.

Helen said. "And what is it?"

Nikola squeezed the little device and Helen heard the distant chirp of a car unlocking. Helen's jaw dropped. "You must be joking." She said, completely intrigued. She took the simple key remote from him.

"We just needed a small transmitter to disrupt the energy. As long as you hold the button down, the device's signal is scrambled." Nikola said smugly. "Did you notice the effect came and went a little when I had the device in my body? It's a prototype, barely functional."

"If _that_ is barely functional, I'm frightened to see what they come up with next." Helen said, handing back the car remote. Nikola laid it on the worktable beside him.

"We know their mock two schematic is hopelessly flawed. I think, unless they have another EM abnormal to continue developing the technology with, we've seen the last of this little bug. In the meantime, if they get hold of me again, come in armed with the keys to a Prius." Nikola said with a grin. The lab's outer doors slammed open.

"Henry, did you _steal my keys_?" Came Kate's annoyed voice.

"Don't. Act. Guilty." Nikola said again to Henry and turned to Kate with a charming smile when she stormed in.

She skidded to a halt when she saw Nikola and gave him a long, narrow look. "Nevermind, Henry, you were obviously coerced. Hey, Vlad. Staying long?"

"Ohw!" Nikola placed a hand over his heart as if wounded. He picked up the car remote and tossed it to her. "Here, you nasty child, we were merely saving mankind from mental enslavement."

Kate caught the key and glanced between Henry and Helen, who both shrugged and raised their brows, concurring. Kate looked suspicious. "Did you do anything to this?" She demanded of Nikola, pointing the key at him.

"Of course not." Nikola said piously.

"Well…okay." Kate said grudgingly. She turned to Henry. "I was freaking out. My car was out there going crazy. Next time just ask."

"Yup." Henry said with a conciliatory smile.

"Well." Helen said in a decisive tone. "I suppose the thing we need to know for certain now is if the Cabal has another abnormal with EM capabilities. If they do and he's been brainwashed by one of these devices, the source of power might be limitless and the Cabal will be able to continue working on this technology."

"How do you propose we get the information out of Druitt, if he has it?" Nikola said with a dark look, as if considering the possibilities.

"I'm going to ask him if he knows." Helen said simply.

Nikola gave a cough of laughter. "You are so naïve." He said with a bemused expression. "How on earth did you make it out of the 1800's?"

Helen rolled her eyes at him. "You'll never get what you don't ask for." She said primly.

Now Kate laughed. Helen looked at her. Kate shrugged. "What?" She said. "That's sounds like something my grandma would say."

Helen smothered a smile. "I have him in the Shoe." She said with an arched brow at Nikola. "And I think I'll let him marinate overnight before I ask."

Nikola's face spread into a slow, fascinated grin. His eyes swept over her with a gleam. "I take it all back. You're positively mercenary."

"Why?" Kate said.

"John is quite uncomfortable with enclosed places." Helen said. "Quite uncomfortable."

"Probably natural for a career felon." Nikola said with a smirk and a shrug.

Helen shot him a look and said to Kate and Henry. "Whatever you do, don't let him talk you into opening the door, even for a medical emergency. Call me. He'll do whatever he feels like to escape, including violence."

Henry gave Helen a look of disbelief. "Why should today be any different?" He said with a shrug. "That guy's always violent."

"Yes, well…" Helen said with a considering look. "Just be careful."

"Right." Kate said, looking at the other three. "I'm going back to work. Ask next time." She pointed at Henry and strode out the door.

"Nikola, Henry, we never did get to have any breakfast." Helen said with a smile. "Care to join me?"

"_Yes_." Henry said fervently.

Nikola just strolled over and caught Helen's hand in his, smirking at Henry's startled expression. They made their way to breakfast at last.


	14. Chapter 14

Nikola woke in the wee small hours of the morning when Helen crawled into bed and curled up against him, her back to his front.

"Mm." He said gruffly, slinging an arm around her waist and tucking her neatly into his chest and dropping a lazy kiss on her hair. "Where have you been?"

"There isn't another abnormal with EM abilities. We're safe from the threat of more mind control devices." Helen said.

"Been visiting with Druitt?" Nikola yawned.

"I couldn't sleep." Helen said. "Not surprisingly, neither could he. He was quite ready to admit everything he knew. I sedated him."

"Hm." Nikola was still sleepy enough to take a few moments to process everything. "And you believe him?"

"He was nearly hysterical." Helen said softly.

"Don't feel guilty." Nikola ordered, his voice clearing and his arm tightening. "He would have cheerfully cut your throat yesterday."

"I know." Helen said. "I can't help it."

"Sweet girl." Nikola said with his voice full of amused disgust. His hand tangled with hers and squeezed.

"He told them about you. Gave them what information he had. Betrayed us again." Helen said dully.

"It still hurts you." Nikola stated.

"Yes." Helen said. "I can't change what I am."

"What you are is a soft hearted fool." Nikola said without any venom in his tone. He sat up, putting one hand on the mattress on either side of her body. She turned to her back and looked up at him in the dim light with a crooked smile.

"I suppose I am." She said sadly.

Nikola frowned at her and brushed a hand over her untidy curls, cupping her face with a gentleness that bordered on worship. She gazed at him with wide blue eyes.

"Would you have me any other way?" She asked.

"I'll have you any way I can get you." Nikola replied frankly. He bent and kissed her, his lips firm and insistent.

"Then have me." Helen murmured the invitation against his mouth. He made a rough sound of satisfaction in his throat and the hand holding her face stroked down her neck and body. She purred.

"Are you going to keep Druitt?" Nikola had to ask.

"No." Helen said. "It's no use."

"Are you going to keep me?"

"Oh, I suppose so." Helen smiled, her eyes soft.

Nikola grinned and he skimmed one clever hand up her thigh. "I thought you might be more resistant." He said. "I was prepared to convince you with a well-formulated argument." His hand stroked her sensitive skin.

Helen gasped softly then gave him a smile as old as Eve. "I'd be happy to hear you out." She said. Nikola's grin grew and he bent to kiss her briefly.

"First point, I'm in love with you." He said matter-of-factly. "Second point, I am very good with my hands…"

He demonstrated and neither of them cared about reaching point number three.

Some hours later the dawn light broke through Helen's bedroom window, rousing them from the half-doze they had tumbled into. They rose reluctantly and Helen went to ask for help moving John Druitt. Henry and Bigfoot wheeled the gurney out of the Sanctuary gates and unstrapped the restraints. Helen gave Druitt a bottle of antibiotics. "Take these so your wounds don't become infected." She said tightly.

John took them with a long look at her. He cleared his throat. "Helen…" He started uncomfortably. "I…I apologize. There is no excuse." He reached out, as if to touch the wound on her throat. Nikola stepped forward and tucked Helen protectively behind him. John's eyes became flat. "Tesla." He bit off.

"Druitt." Nikola said in a calm voice. "Goodbye."

"So long, old boy." Druitt said, with an unreadable expression on his face, and disappeared in a flash of red.

The residents of the Sanctuary stood for a moment before turning back into the gates.

"There's breakfast ready." Bigfoot offered with a grunt.

"Breakfast sounds lovely." Helen said brightly, trying to change the tense mood. "Shall we?"

"I take it you're planning to stick around, huh?" Henry said to Nikola.

"Hm." Nikola said enigmatically with a slow grin spreading across his face. "I don't think we've seen the last of Druitt. Best that I stay."

Henry gave him a wary look. "Sure, man." He said.

"And I can't ignore the fact that Helen is hopelessly in love with me." Nikola added smugly.

Helen shot him an exasperated look.

"_What_?" Henry said, looking deeply uncomfortable. Bigfoot grunted in disapproval.

"_Breakfast_." Helen said firmly, smothering her laughter and leading them in her wake into the Sanctuary and toward the dining room.

All around them the residents of the Sanctuary began to wake and greet the new day. A day with one less threat, one more ally, and infinite possibilities.


End file.
